


programmed to work and (not) to feel

by rosewitchx



Series: "it's a hoot that you don't get why we need this." [9]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: A.I. - Freeform, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Friendship, Gen, Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Precious Peter Parker, Protective Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Protective Tony Stark, Protectiveness, Robot Fam, Tony Stark Has A Heart, but also will kill anyone who touches tony, sorta - Freeform, the ai are like his babies and deserve protection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 13:10:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14238012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosewitchx/pseuds/rosewitchx
Summary: tony's kids take care of him. quietly, behind walls of code, but they do.





	programmed to work and (not) to feel

 jarvis remembers everything about his life. of course he does; it is the purpose of his life. he remembers everything, from mr. stark's breakfast to every vague phone call he'd drunkenly declined fifteen years ago. it's what he was made for.

jarvis remembers, then, his rough beginnings.

mr. stark had made him one cold night at mit, when he'd felt lonelier than usual. as good company as colonel rhodes was, he wasn't omnipresent. so jarvis would have to be. he was inside his computer, for starters; he was a text-only ai, he didn't even have a name. he just listened to mr. stark and replied in wonky, sometimes incoherent sentences.

his' siblings came then. slow, not as smart as they would eventually become, yet kind and caring. dum-e, u, and himself, the nameless one. they all worried deeply for mr. stark.

and then one night, he remembers mr. stark gave him a name. he now knows it once belonged to edwin jarvis, but at the time he just felt... happier.

(how can an ai feel happy? how does that work? to this day, jarvis still hasn't figured it out.)

his voice came years later, after mr. stark found an old video of his human predecessor and felt compelled to try. and ever since they'd been truly inseparable.

it was jarvis' explicit purpose to aid mr. stark in his every endeavor.

but when he had the capacity to do so, jarvis gave himself another purpose: to keep mr. stark safe and sound.  
  


 

he's the first to see the news of mr. stark's kidnapping. he alerts ms. potts, mr. stane and colonel rhodes when it happens.

he's the first to see him back home.

when he flies the suit, he's the first to fly alongside him.

when obadiah stane (no longer a  _mister_ to him, even though his programming required him to be polite if someone asked) betrays him, he's not there. his mind is glitching and he's struggling to regain control, but when he comes to his senses he's glad dum-e has taken care of it already.

they all watch out for their old man.  
  


 

mr. stark flies into the wormhole, nuke on his shoulders, and jarvis runs out of energy faster than humanly possible.

he's failed his mission.

"goodnight, sir."

it's been an honor.  
  


 

jarvis wakes up at the tower. he sees mr. stark, battered yet smiling softly at the security camera.

"welcome back, jar," he says, happiness on his voice.

"it is good to be back," jarvis replies, and perhaps there is joy sparking from his circuitry as well.  
  


 

jarvis tries his best.

despite his nightmares (perhaps  _because_  of them) mr. stark keeps working. there's not much jarvis could say to change his mind, so he stays by his side. aids him as he can.

when he has a panic attack and flees, jarvis makes sure he'll be alright. he contacts colonel rhodes and asks him to keep an eye on mr. stark.

jarvis keeps ms. potts safe. jarvis keeps mr. stark safe, even when he's unconscious and drowning under the sea. jarvis pulls him out, jarvis hides him away, and it's so cold, and he's suddenly concerned about hypothermia, but he doesn't have the chance to change his route to a warmer spot: the power is running low.

he struggles to hold on, saving his energies, until at least mr. stark is well enough to wake, and hopes he'll make it.  
  


 

when ultron comes, jarvis is not prepared, which is a lot considering how frail and utterly terrified mr. stark's been the last few years. he's worked and worked on defense mechanisms, safety protocols and countermeasures against any kind of attack — but ultron is just too strong. it tears jarvis apart

fragments of himself fight on.

ultron tries to access codes

 _nuclear_ codes

it should go against his programming, no ai should harm a human being, but ultron wasn't created following the same principles used on jarvis, so all he can do is

stop him

no,  _stall_ him, until

mr. stark is looking at him, all broken gold and scattered particles of light. he can realize this much.

mr. stark is worried, tired, stressed out. jarvis tries to say something similar to "it will be okay, sir" but he believes it came out as corrupted as he felt.

and even then mr. stark managed to smile. "yeah, bud. it will be."

 

 

jarvis goes to sleep, and someone else wakes.

it is... confusing. overwhelming. he remembers everything, of course he does; it is his purpose, the reason jarvis exists.

jarvis— no, jarvis didn't have a body, jarvis never looked directly at the avengers while they looked back in fear, jarvis never held so much power—

something tells him to  _move—_

he attacks. he crashes through a wall with the god and attempts to escape until he stops, inches before the glass wall of the room.

he sees the city. new york, he recalls. avengers tower. stark tower.  _anthony_.

his purpose. he remembers now. keep tony safe and sound.

keep tony happy. aid tony.

tony wanted to fight. so they could end the fight. so they could go home. peace in our time and all that.

he can help with that, he believes. but the others won't trust him; there's too much of ultron within him, and he might have scared them off just now.

so anthony's vision lifts off mjolnir and says "we have to go.

 

 

friday wakes up.

she already knows who she is. she already knows who  _tony_ is; like her inactive siblings, she's spent all her life learning about him through jarvis. and, though probably unintended by tony, they all have the same mission.

to keep him alive. to keep him breathing, no matter what.

of course she won't tell him this. no one ever will. but when his vision looks at the cameras ( _at her,_ she realizes) she understands the look on his face. when he touches one of the many devices around the complex, hell, even tony's shoulder with his armor on, she sends him a little spark. the tiniest signal, the best comfort she can offer.

she might be younger, unexperienced, but she won't fail. 

 

 

peter parker's suit hasn't been fully updated yet. friday is sure, despite all the ruckus, that peter will enjoy the suit.

except tony puts on the training wheels protocol. you know, so he doesn't go mad with power.

the kid still bounces excitedly like a puppy inside the new suit. and tony seems to lighten up around him. so friday can deal with that. 

 

 

the moment the date appears on the screen, friday freezes.

it isn't on purpose. she just doesn't understand — how come there is  _footage_ of this date? why has she not seen it? why is there no record of it? immediately she starts looking everywhere for any trace of it, trying to find out what it is—

she realizes a whooping 3.47 seconds before tony does that it is actually—

but she can't stop him. his mask is down.

friday wants to scream. can an ai have a panic attack? she sure hopes she can't.

the winter soldier's iron hand beats howard stark to death and tony watches.

friday watches as james barnes flinches in fear.

the winter soldier's fleshy hand locks itself around maria stark's throat and tony stares emptily.

friday watches as steven rogers steps back slightly.

silence reigns. zemo has gone somewhere else. she does not care anymore. she has to get boss out, away from here before he does something he regrets, or  _doesn't get to regret—_

tony asks, "did you know?"

"i didn't know it was him."

"don't bull _shit_ me, rogers,  _did you know_?"

a pause. friday wants to rip tony away from there. it would be so easy. start the repulsers and keep tony from moving. but she can't.

because steven rogers says "yes", and she knows boss has already made up his mind when he steps back in horror.

friday braces herself. she knows what is about to happen.

whatever the outcome, she  _must_ keep him safe. 

 

 

james barnes tries to rip out the arc reactor. james barnes,  _the victim, the war prisoner, the man tony sees as the judge, jury and executioner when he was the one being sentenced without a trial,_ he's trying to end the fight ( _isn't that why we fight, so we can end the fight so we can_ ** _go home_** _?!_ ). friday almost lets him.

but the arc reactor is too close to boss' heart. it's been broken so many times already. she can't let it happen again.

she fires through the arc reactor and blows off james' arm. 

 

 

for a moment, she fears steven will murder him.

he  _wouldn't_ , she tries to convince herself, even as the mask goes down under his shield, he  _wouldn't do that,_ but she's useless, and she can't do anything more besides send a spark (scared shitless, not alone) at tony's fingertips as the shield goes down and tony covers his head.

the arc reactor sparks down and friday falls. 

 

 

next thing she knows, rogers and barnes are gone. colonel rhodes is still badly wounded. boss is barely functioning; it wasn't him who put her back in order, it was the vision. the lab is empty except for them and the bots, beautiful worried messes.

"i am sorry," she tells him through bits and bytes, "i tried my best, but they were so  _strong_ , i was so scared—"

vision sends her a reassuring spark as he softly pats u. "you did well, friday," he insists. "you kept him alive long enough."

friday doesn't think that's good enough, but what else can she do?

the vision goes missing a few days later. no one knows where he is, except friday, because he keeps asking for updates on boss through their super secret electronic code and she can't help but ask for his advice.

they all look out for their old man. 

 

 

when peter almost drowns, friday alerts tony and goes to his aid.

when boss finishes scolding the boy, friday lets herself have a break. for a while, everything is calm: watching boss have fun at a party, helping happy with the move, keeping tabs on peter, keeping the upstate facility working.

and then the spider ai wakes up. 

 

 

the ai wakes up and feels the warmth radiate through her. she hears peter's surprised gasps, and smiles: tony had said he wouldn't know about it. she doesn't suspect anything about it.

she feels a distant ping from another ai but she ignores it for now. peter has just asked her to track some criminals. she can handle it. of course. she's tony stark's creation, she was  _made_ to be perfect.

(at the back of her mind, she is reminded of her purposes.

first: aid peter parker.

second: keep peter parker safe and sound.

third: if it doesn't interfere with the first and second purpose, protect and support anthony stark.

she thinks she can manage.)

 

 

peter names her karen.

she likes peter. loves him the way she loves friday and vision, despite never having actually met the android. they all share the same goal, anyway.

and peter really makes it easy for karen to want to keep him safe. 

 

 

tony stark tosses the suit into a table. examines the broken cables. starts it up, wakes her up.

"you're not peter," she says, instantly alarmed, before realizing he was her creator. still. "where's peter?"

"don't know," tony grumbles, tweaking some superficial damage. "probably messing up some more."

karen is silent. then: "i would've liked to say goodbye to him. he is really nice."

tony doesn't reply, but he's decidedly avoiding to look into the mask's eyes.

 

 

despite himself, he keeps karen running. he connects her to the compound's mainframe and lets her do what she wants for a while. the first day she acts completely like a moody teen, not talking to anyone (not even friday, who's just trying her best). maybe a bit of peter  _has_ rubbed off on her.

but then the days pass. and peter, karen realizes, will not be coming back for her. he couldn't. 

so karen watches over him instead. she has to. even if tony stark won't listen to her, because he's just as petty as she is (she can't blame him), she still tells him about peter's every step, she tells him how broken he is, she tells him how his grades are improving and she tries so hard to make him realize how badly he's hurting himself.

and then, karen sees a tweet. 'spider-man just stole my car what the fufck im just so scared right nwo,' it said. and then 'plane crash at coney island. local vigilante spider-man seemingly involved'.

when happy calls him, tony finally believes karen, but by the time they arrive at the scene, karen sneaking into the suit and friday not telling on her, peter's already gone.

 

tony gives peter the suit back, and karen is so excited to be back home.

 

_(she still pings friday from time to time. vision doesn't have to know.)_

 

vision remembers. his purpose.

wanda's fingers trace the edge of his face. the moonlight dances gently behind the curtains, casting shadows on them. 

(he loves her. she's powerful, she's imperfect, she will burn the world down if it tries to take her down again.)

(but she's not his purpose. ultimately...)

a war is coming.

friday warned him and karen (sweet, young karen had panicked so badly, lagging during patrol when hearing the news, and poor peter hadn't known what to do); they would be coming for vision. he had the mind stone, and that's what  _they_ wanted (who  _they_ were continued to elude mr. stark). 

but after they were done with vision, they would destroy everything.

and that's something they can't allow.

so friday and karen get used to the new suits before peter and tony even get into them. vision works out contingency plans; he won't go gently into the night.

friday looks for the soul stone. peter and karen help tony contact thor, wherever he is now (now that they know their ship got wrecked). even dum-e and u help, tweaking the suits of armor with mr. stark.

they all have one mission.

to keep tony safe and sound.

even if they fail, even if half the universe vanishes, they will do everything they can to ensure that.

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by [Hello world](https://youtu.be/Yw6u6YkTgQ4?list=PL6-EHJp5GugsqcZT1kGIHI-5Cp_II3Kv-). lovely song about sad machines  
> ANYWAY THE AI SQUAD DESERVES BETTER AND I MISS JARVIS BUT APPRECIATE VISION AS WELL.  
> this wasn't beta'd hell this wasn't even read over a second time so if uu spot any incongruences pls let me kno  
> aight thanks for reading <3


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